I think you should make your reference to philosophy more specific and ask "What is the opposite of the study of philosophy" or "What is the opposite of the definiton of philosophy" or whatever you mean.

Klingsor wrote:"Philosophy" means to love wisdom. So its opposite will be: to hate wisdom. Or to love stupidity. Or the will to keep the people stupid. Yeah, that's it - philosophy's opposite is ... entertainment!

I mostly agree with your analysis. Although I have to note that entertainment is neccesary in time of need (like after working weeks of full shifts). They may prevent any psychotic disturbance. But on the otherside most people in the west are being litterly trampled with entertainment making them ignorant. You'll have to put this in a context. People who are against philosophy seem to be mostly lazy people.

Do they not then think deeply in the Qur'an, or are their hearts locked up (from understanding it)?

"Philosophy" doesn't mean "to love wisdom". I know the greek words that comprise "philosophy" mean "to love" (or something like that) and "wisdom" but the word isn't used to say "to love wisdom" today. When you say that the question of the free will is a philosophical question you dont mean that the qustion of the free will is a question of the love of wisdom (or something like that).

Philosophy is a very vague and ambiguous word. Howver it is most often used to refer to activities concerning the most fundamental features of reality (ontology/metaphysics), the foundations of knowledge, ethical questions and other similar questions.

I don't think you can speak of an "opposite" to such activities. Some things just don't have opposites. For example, what is the opposite of "chair", "Finland", "mathemathics" etc.?

Well, if hermes was more specific, then that specified reference would have an opposite. Theres a location on the opposite side of the world of Finland. You sit in a chair, opposite, stand, so shoes could be an opposite. Um, math, well, you get the idea.

Klingsor wrote:"Philosophy" means to love wisdom. So its opposite will be: to hate wisdom. Or to love stupidity. Or the will to keep the people stupid. Yeah, that's it - philosophy's opposite is ... entertainment!

Hadj wrote:But on the otherside most people in the west are being litterly trampled with entertainment making them ignorant.

i'll agree with that, Hadj! great posts, Hadj and Klingsor. i do think that most people "in the west" (i live in the US so that sounds funny to me) are so completely pummelled with entertainment at all times, shortening their attention span, dumbing them down, and discouraging them from imaginative or creative thoughts. i come across it all the time ...when you attempt to get people to dig deep into a topic, you get about 10 seconds into a very basic (yet "in-depth") analysis, and suddenly they say something like "uhhh ya lost me". which isn't really true--its not that what you're saying is "too difficult" for them to understand, its that they're somehow trained (by television, etc etc) to know that if something takes a little time and mental effort on their part, it ought to be ignored entirely. its laziness.

but to give some perspective on this, i think this is a great way of discouraging individual, independent and creative thoughts. unless you can say what you're trying to say in a convenient, under-two-seconds package, no one will listen to you. this has the broader effect of ...only being able to communicate things that people already know and understand. its the origin of the "cliche" that is so common in everyday conversation. its easier to quote a movie than to come up with something clever yourself.

ughhh i hate movies. and television. and what they do to people's minds.

homedawg wrote:Well, if hermes was more specific, then that specified reference would have an opposite. Theres a location on the opposite side of the world of Finland. You sit in a chair, opposite, stand, so shoes could be an opposite. Um, math, well, you get the idea.

WHOA HOLD UP THERE HOMEDAWG!!! LISTEN TO YOURSELF! sputtering a bunch of logical-sounding things through your keyboard and onto the internet is totally fine, but don't do it here. my distinguished colleague hermes does not deserve to be spoken to in that manner! DO YOU KNOW WHO HE IS?!??!?! GOOD LORD!

Ok, all the replies are interesting. What I'm getting at is that philosophy, at base, is an action, a three fold engagement with the world - we read, we observe/think, we write/speak (i'm not getting into that shit here!). Now, I usually try hard not to think in dualistic terms, but occasionally I slip and have an interesting accident. I think philosophy, calm and reasoned inquiry and/or discourse, is opposed by violence. You can get into A dialogue With your enemy and arrive At some contract or you can pick up your 30-30 go over to house and blow holes in him and his kids. "Negotiate that!"

this other remains in philosophy still, I think. I am curious as to how this other may effect the doing of philosophy. The last Metaphysics class I took as an undergrad covered three philosophers - Aristotle, Heidegger, and Richard Rorty. I was looking at the texts while standing in line at the University bookstore and I burst out laughing. Unintentionally, our fine Professor had chosen philosophers from the War Machines. Aristotle was the tutor of Alexander, Heidegger cozied up to the Nazi Machine, and Rorty, no matter how much Of a hippy he may be, writes from the comfortable busom of the nuclear armed US. In fact, I don't think it is possible to do philosophy without the spectre of war and empire covering parts of the writing in shadow.

DarkMagus wrote:ooh now there's an interesting answer. it does seem like you need to live in a fairly rich and powerful country/state before you can go off relaxin' and philosophizin'.

Not true... Tibetan philosophy?

The Crux Of The Biscuit Is The Apostraphe

"Philosophy isn't about having the right answers, it is about asking the right questions and analysing the resulting evidence, and providing firm evidence and convictions for your positions and beliefs" My take on philosophy - ACB

aristotle, rorty, and heidegger are all considered "western" philosophers. i guess it doesn't hold for that mysterious "eastern" realm they never taught me about at school. but even still ...i'll confidently assert that you can't be starving and philosophizing at the same time. am i wrong? hit me with details.

also, Tibetan Philosophy is not philosophy, per se. It is theology. Secondly, I am tired of the idea that because the Richard Gere and the Beastie Boys say that Tibetans are peaceful, they are so. Do you know what the Tibetan national pastime was from 1200 to 1910? They rode down out of the mountains and burned down Chinese towns in Sichuan and various neighboring provinces.It's tit for tat. I don't support Mao's legacy of hairbrained schemes (like the Three Gorges dam or Southern Waters North!!!) but I understand their hatred for Tibet.

DarkMagus wrote:WHOA HOLD UP THERE HOMEDAWG!!! LISTEN TO YOURSELF! sputtering a bunch of logical-sounding things through your keyboard and onto the internet is totally fine, but don't do it here. my distinguished colleague hermes does not deserve to be spoken to in that manner! DO YOU KNOW WHO HE IS?!??!?! GOOD LORD!

Ok, ok, so maybe the analogies were too much, but hey, its no reason to get angry.

But I was talking to stefan, and he did say that "philosophy is a very vague and ambiguous word" so it wouldve been nice if hermes had done what I said earlier (maybe you somehow knew what he meant, well, oops, I didn't, somebody ing kill me)

magisterludi wrote:The opposite to philosophy is what you see on ilovephilosophy.com

Magisterludi is like this fat girl I used to know in high school. All of us would go to parties, get fucked up and commence with the wild shenannigans. This bitch would nurse a fucking vodka and cranberry with an eye-drop full of vodka all night and watch us, remembering what happened. On Monday, she Would gossip and make fun of everybody drunk. Yet, She still used to go to the parties.

So, who's more pathetic - the drinkers or the fat bitch sitting on the sidelines with 17 posts?

magisterludi wrote:The opposite to philosophy is what you see on ilovephilosophy.com

Magisterludi is like this fat girl I used to know in high school. All of us would go to parties, get fucked up and commence with the wild shenannigans. This bitch would nurse a fucking vodka and cranberry with an eye-drop full of vodka all night and watch us, remembering what happened. On Monday, she Would gossip and make fun of everybody drunk. Yet, She still used to go to the parties.

So, who's more pathetic - the drinkers or the fat bitch sitting on the sidelines with 17 posts?

The drinkers, because they knew what she was doing and kept inviting her anyway.

magisterludi wrote:The opposite to philosophy is what you see on ilovephilosophy.com

Magisterludi is like this fat girl I used to know in high school. All of us would go to parties, get fucked up and commence with the wild shenannigans. This bitch would nurse a fucking vodka and cranberry with an eye-drop full of vodka all night and watch us, remembering what happened. On Monday, she Would gossip and make fun of everybody drunk. Yet, She still used to go to the parties.

So, who's more pathetic - the drinkers or the fat bitch sitting on the sidelines with 17 posts?

The drinkers, because they knew what she was doing and kept inviting her anyway.

for the record, I kept telling people not to let her come as she was a spy in the house of gettin' crunk